Left: Will Ramberg works through a field of runners in the Polar League Conference meet held at Pincushion Mountains. Also spotted just behind Ramberg are Sophie Eliasen, Robin Henrickson, Amelia Roth, and Chloe Blackburn. Above left: Maya McHugh is back from a long injury and picking up her fitness. Above right: David Blackburn ran a strong race, finishing with a 5K time of 23:16.
Our Pincushion Mountain racecourse was in great shape for the Polar League Conference Meet on October 8, 2014. The teams in attendance were Esko, Cromwell, South Ridge, Moose Lake/Willow River/ Barnum, Wrenshall, and Carlton. As our season is winding down, some others are starting to realize that attendance at the State Meet in November is a viable option. Since this is our second time racing this course during the season this is our chance to kick back and analyze how much each runner has improved since August. Almost everyone improved their time and most runners improved between 30 seconds to 3 minutes. It is fun to see all the hard work pay off!
Our meet started with a 1.5 mile race for our junior high runners. Robin Henrikson led the Vikings with a 1.5 minute improvement (12:08) and a 3rd place finish. She was followed by Amelia Roth who came in 7th place and improved by 3 minutes 40 seconds with a time of 12:20. Rounding out the medals was Sophie Eliasen who came in 10th place with a time of 12:44. Chloe Blackburn finished in 15th and shaved off 3 minutes 20 seconds to finish in 16:40.
Will Ramberg was 6th place in the boys’ junior high race with a time of 10 minutes 13 seconds. He was followed by Charles Seipke, who had a 30-second improvement with a time of 11:10, and finished 12th. Next in 13th place was JC Holman with a 50-second improvement, finishing in a time of 11:11. Henry DeArruda-Weaver improved by 1 minute 20 second with a time of 13:39. Trent Spry followed closely behind with a time of 13:49. Doran Acero knocked off 1.5 minutes running a time of 14:42 and Ian Parker was the biggest improvement of the day with over 4 minutes of improvement and a time of 15:14.
The JV girls ran a 4 kilometer race and Ruby Walsberg was the winner with a time of 19:09, which is a 1.5 minute improvement. Mel Stoddard shaved 30 seconds off her time and finished in 9th place with a time of 20:17. Marin Hay improved by over 2 minutes with a time of 20:40. Danielle Hansen had a great race and took 2 minutes and 40 seconds off of her time with a new time of 22:25. Julia Larsen improved by 50 seconds running 24:39 and she was followed by Lucy Callender who looked strong all the way to the finish with a time of 26:36.
Our girls’ varsity ended up finishing in 4th place. Matea Acero earned the honor of being All- Conference with a 10th place finish with a time of 16:55. Molly Thomas and Abigale Seipke continue to be a great pack. They finished in 14th and 15th place with times of 17:29 and 17:36. Kate Walsberg, a 7th grader from Two Harbors, filled in the gap and finished 21st with a time of 18:20. Alyssa Martinson improved her time by 30 seconds and finished in 18:49 and Morgan Weyrens-Welch had over a minute improvement with a time of 18:59. Maya McHugh is back running and doing great she ran a 19:46.
Roman Schnobrich led the boys’ junior varsity with an 11th place finish, a minute improvement and a time of 21:38. He was followed by the pack of 9th graders who are developing nicely—David Blackburn (23:16), Caleb Phillips (23:54), Andy Kern (24:39), and Jake Bilben (25:12).
It was an exciting day for the boys’ varsity team. We knew it was going to be a fight for 2nd place and with Sean MacDonell out with an injury, we knew it was going to be tough to crack that 1st place spot. The boys however, showed up and put their best foot forward. Esko finished 1st with 33 points, Moose Lake/Willow River/ Barnum finished 2nd with 46 points and close behind was Cook County/Two Harbors with 49 points.
The race started off fast and Jake Paron and Kiviok Hight got boxed out at the beginning. However, in their usual fashion they began moving forward passing up the packs of runners until they were chasing down the leader. With about ¾ of a mile to go, Jake Paron took the lead and coming into the finish it was clear that on that next loop he and Hight pulled away from the others racers for a 1-2 finish. Paron finished in 17:41 with a 50-second improvement and Hight finished in 18:09 with a 24-second improvement.
Noah Smith was one place away from All- Conference and finished with a time of 19:29. Sebastian Cannon had a stand-out race with a 20:28 finish. Rounding out our varsity team was Brenden Seipke and Finn Garry with the times of 21:06 and 21:22.
We will be attending the Section 7A meet at the Cloquet Country Club on Thursday, October 23. Races will begin at 11 and 11:45 a.m. Come cheer on our Vikes and see if we have a couple runners move on to the State Meet. Currently, Jake Paron is ranked 5th in our section.
Leave a Reply